Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER V.

OF THE KING'S REVENUE.

Ordinary and Extraordinary Revenue.-Civil List from George I. down to William IV.-Civil List of Queen Victoria.-Jewels and Treasure of the Queen.

THE funds and revenues which the sovereign nominally levies as representative of the State, are divided into 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary.' The former are those which from time out of mind have belonged to the king, and which do not depend upon the disposal of parliament, or which he has, with the consent of parliament, acquired by purchase or exchange out of the property previously belonging to him. The ordinary, as well as the extraordinary revenue of the king, since government by parliaments, is, in fact, the revenue of the State, and will be fully explained when treating of the budget.

As by the revolution of 1688 the duty of the king to bear the expenses of government out of the State income allotted to him was abolished, certain portions of the income of the country have been assigned to the king to meet the expenses of the royal household. Under George I. this sum amounted at times to £1,000,000 sterling. If it did not reach £800,000 the deficiency was covered by parliament. In 1777 the civil list of the king was fixed at £900,000, and the income over and above that sum from the hereditary possessions of the crown passed to the Treasury. The high total of this civil list becomes explicable on bearing in mind that the king was still under the necessity of paying the salaries of the judges and ambassadors, and other high-placed officials. Under William IV. the civil list was relieved of many burthens, and fixed at £510,000.

By 39-40 George III. c. 88, Pitt contrived to bring about that the king might have a private and separate estate. It is established by 1-2 Vic. c. 2, that as long as Queen Victoria lives all the revenues of the crown shall be a part of the consolidated fund, but that a civil list shall be assigned to the Queen. This amounts to £385,000, of which £325,000 are destined for the

L

expenses of the household and £60,000 for her private personal expenditure. No State official at the present day receives his salary from the civil list. If the outlay, including the £60,000, exceed annually the £385,000 allotted, this is to be duly notified to parliament. A bill, recently before parliament, allows the Queen the right of disposing of estates purchased by her out of the savings of her private purse. She may dispose of them by will; but, on the other hand, is bound to pay all local and State taxes chargeable upon such estates.

CHAPTER VI.

THE SOVEREIGN'S FAMILY.

No Equality of Birth requisite.-Exceptional Rights of the Queen Consort in regard to her Fortune.-The House of Lords.-The Court of Law for the Queen.Coronation of the Queen Consort unnecessary.-Queen Dowager.-Consort of a Queen Regnant.-Rights of the late Prince Consort.-The Heir to the Throne. -His Consort.-Princess Royal. - Royal Family.-"Royal Marriage Act." -Provision.

THE Queen of England is either queen regnant, and, as such, enjoys all the rights of a king (vide caps. 1, 2, 3 of this book), or she is queen consort, or queen dowager. The marriage of the king is only valid when contracted with a woman born in wedlock; if this requirement be fully observed the king of England may lawfully wed any Protestant whatever, however humble her origin, for the English law does not recognize a mésalliance in the case of the king.* Thus, Edward IV. married Lady Grey; Edward Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI., married the daughter of Warwick; and Henry VIII. married Ann Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr: simple English ladies and Englishborn subjects.

The queen consort enjoys certain exceptional privileges, which do not pertain to any ordinary woman. She can convey lands, inherit and make leases without the concurrence of her lord; is capable of taking grants from the king, whereas such grants between husband and wife are, otherwise, invalid. She is empowered, likewise, to sue and be sued alone, without "joining" her husband. The law treats her in all respects as an independent, unmarried woman (feme sole), and not as a wife (feme coverte). Sir Edward Coke alleges as the ground for this exception from the common law, that the king ought not to be troubled on account of his household affairs. Palaces, however, and chattels, bequeathed to the queen for her life, cannot be freely disposed of. She further enjoys freedom from toll and from amercement in any

"The crowning in England holdeth that a king may take a maiden to wife,

whoso she might be, yet true born withal."-Wilinrich, Danziger Chronik. p. 2.

court. Where the law has not expressly exempted her, her legal relations are determined by the common law.

As regards the protection of her person she is put on the same footing with the king; it is high treason to compass her death, or violate her person. Should the queen consort commit adultery, the person committing the offence and the queen consenting are punishable alike for high treason. If the queen commit high treason she is arraigned before the House of Lords, as in the case of Anna Boleyn. By a statute passed after the execution of Catherine Howard, it was made high treason if the queen, before marriage, deceived the king in the point of her continency.

The coronation of a queen-consort is not a ceremony of material import, as has been fully determined on occasion of the claims asserted by Queen Caroline during the reign of George IV.* In consequence of the judgment of the privy council, Queen Caroline was not admitted to Westminster Abbey during the ceremony.†

The queen dowager, "pro dignitate regali," no man can marry without special licence from the king; if she marry a peer or commoner, she still retains her regal dignity. A conspiracy against her life, attempts upon her person, and connection with her out of marriage are not regarded as high treason. The consort of the reigning queen is her subject; he either bears no title at all, or the title of "king consort," or "prince consort," the latter having been the title conferred on Prince Albert. Generally speaking, the consort of the queen has not any authority in the government. From the time of Philip of Spain such authority was expressly withheld by Parliament. William III., on the other hand, mounted the throne as 'king regent' in conjunction with Mary.

The late Prince Consort could only have governed had the Queen died leaving the Prince of Wales a minor. He was a member of the privy council, and, as Lord Campbell expressly declared in the Upper House, was constitutionally bound, as 'Consort,' "to give advice to the Queen." This view was supported in the Upper House by Lord Aberdeen, and in the Lower House by Lord John Russell.§

*The ceremonial on such occasion is described in Shakespere's Henry VIII., Act 4, s. 1.

+ Hughes, c. 60.

Ann. Reg. 1854, 12.
§ Ann. Reg. 1854, 10—12.

The heir apparent is usually, by special creation, made “Prince of Wales," and "Earl of Chester;" as eldest son of the sovereign he is, by inheritance, " Duke of Cornwall." A conspiracy directed against him, or his consort, or against the eldest princess (the Princess Royal), or adultery committed on either of the above-named princesses, or any violent attempts against their persons, draws down the penalties of high treason. The Prince of Wales has his own privy council, to which formerly an appeal lay from the Court of Stannary, in Cornwall. The royal family comprises, in a more extended sense, all those who might lawfully inherit, that is, all the "Protestant" descendants of the Electress Sophia. In the more restricted sense the nearest relatives of the king constitute his family. The younger sons and daughters have precedence over all Peers and Government officials. The brothers uncles, nephews, grandsons, and grand-nephews have equal rank.

The king has the right to superintend the education of his grandchildren, even while their parents are still living. By the Royal Marriage Act 12 George III. c. 11, no descendant of the body of King George II., other than the issue of princesses married into foreign families, is capable of contracting matrimony without the previous consent of the king; such of the said descendants as are above the age of twenty-five may, however, after a twelvemonth's notice given to the Privy Council, contract marriage without the consent of the Crown, unless both houses of parliament shall, before the expiration of the said year, expressly declare their disapprobation of such intended marriage.

Parliament generally, on the marriage of princes or princesses, makes the necessary pecuniary provisions; the "eldest daughter," or Princess Royal, being especially favoured, as being the object of one of the ancient feudal aids which the Lord was entitled to claim.

« AnteriorContinuar »